Review of Enemies and Playmates by Darcia Helle

Title: Enemies and Playmates
Published: June 8, 2009
ASIN:B002ECEKBW
Genre: Romantic Suspense



Lauren Covington leads the perfect life, with the perfect parents. They live in the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood with great friends. Perfect. Only it's all a perfectly crafted lie to hide what happens behind closed doors.

Alex Convington, Lauren's father, is a brutal man who rules with an iron fist. He has everyone under his control. His family lives in fear of his wrath. Her mother suffers constant physical abuse at his hand, her brother suffers from severe mental abuse that is leading him down a path of self-destruction, and Lauren has lost the ability to trust men.

Then Lauren meets Jesse. He is everything she could ever dream of in the perfect guy: strong, tall, handsome, confident. And it scares the hell out of her. An instant, mutual attraction that quickly turns to love brings them together, but her father threatens to tear them apart.

Jesse, who once worked for Alex Covington, no longer wants to do his bidding. He's called it quits, but Alex doesn't let go of his possessions easily. Alex wants Jesse on his side, and if he can't have him, then Jesse would best serve him buried six feet under. Now, Jesse has to find a way to bring Alex's reign of terror down before he finds himself on the wrong side of a bullet.

This story moved at a steady pace, but felt a bit too long for me. I think it could have been condensed and been all the better for it. The main thing that kept me reading was the desire to see Alex Covington pay for his crimes. He was a deliciously detestable character, and probably the most interesting one, aside from his son.

I found Jesse to be a pretty strong voice, too, but the constant idiocy in which he just seemed to "forget" to watch his back, even though he knew full well Conington's men were out to kill him, had me shaking me head numerous times. Jesse constantly walked into glaringly dangerous situations as if he had no sense of self-preservation, got his butt handed to him and walked into a similar situation before the bruises even had a chance to heal. Similarly, Lauren kept putting herself in her father's path, thinking that, although he had beaten his wife right in from of her, slapped her brother around and berated him into a truly sad outcome, and she knew he had people knocked off before, that she was somehow beyond his wrath. How blind could she possibly be?

I finished this story because it does have that illusive something that keeps you wanting to know what happens next. Granted, it takes awhile to get there, but eventually it does. I found the entire scheme Jesse cooked up to be solid and, sometimes, brilliant, but, as I said, it took far too long to get there. The sheer intricacy of the plot, how many people were involved, the lengths they went to to cover their tracks, was definitely well thought out, which is something I can very much appreciate.

Overall, this was a decent read. I would recommend it for those who like a smidgen of romance heaped with a whole lot of sinister and a sprinkling of melancholy.

 

Playmates and Enemies is currently available for purchase on Amazon for FREE. 

Expanding My Horizons

I have been reading like crazy lately. For those who know me, that really doesn't come as a surprise. It's what I do. But I got stuck in a rut--the romance rut. What I mean to say is, I picked up a romance novel about a year or two ago, and that was it. Nothing else has managed to get through since. It had been every romance novel under the sun since that fateful day. Be it vampires, werewolves, CIA, ARMY, or Other, I have been devouring it. Until one day my husband said, you really should try something else. Expand.

Interesting concept. Expand... I rolled it around in my brain a while, let it fester and grow roots, and then I started my plan of attack. There are a ton of places to find free Kindle books, but I have one in particular, aptly named Free Kindle Books from Ereader News Today that sends me the top listings from various genres via email. Now I grab up anything and everything that looks interesting (more romance novels anyone?!). I have found some great ones, and some not so great, but recently I found a GREAT one, that I thought I would share.

Breaking Twig by Deborah Epperson took my breath away. It's a lengthy read, but I plowed through it in a day. A coming-of-age, historical fiction set in 1960s South during and after the Vietnam War, this is a story of heartache and abuse that pulls at the heart strings (Unless you're cold and unfeeling, in which case, you shouldn't be reading this!). I could attempt to put this into words, except I know I wouldn't do it justice. Instead, here is the blurb:

Set in rural Georgia in the 1960s, BREAKING TWIG is a coming-of-age novel about Becky (Twig) Cooper, a young woman trying to survive the physical and emotional abuse of her mother, Helen, a beautiful, calculating woman who can, with a mere look, send the meanest cur in Sugardale, Georgia running for its life.

Not even Twig's vivid imagination, keen wit, and dark sense of humor is enough to help her survive the escalating assaults of Helen and a new stepbrother, but help comes from an unexpected source--Frank, her stepfather. Sometimes, having one person who loves and believes in you is all a girl needs to keep hope alive.

Often raw and irreverent and sprinkled with all the Southern flavoring found in a good bowl of chicken and dumplings, BREAKING TWIG, is about finding love where we least expect it, destroying lives with easy lies, and realizing each of us determine our own truth.

This is the type of book that I love. It spans so much time, I am sure Epperson could have easily made it into a series, but I don't think she really needed to. Plus, it wouldn't have done it justice. It's perfect the way it is. As a reader, you get to grow with the character, learn where she comes from and go through everything with her, so you are really invested in the character and what happens to her along the way. I will say that, although it isn't graphic, it is the type of story that can be a bit disturbing if you are at all sensitive to children and matters of abuse. I know I am, but I found this to be riveting. I wanted to protect Becky (Twig) as much as I wanted to shake her into realizing that she was so much better than this. I rooted for her to stand up for herself, and I cried (CRIED!) when something, I won't tell what, tore apart her world. I saw it coming a mile away, but she didn't, and that's what made it so terrible. Becky is young and naive and lets her heart rule, which isn't always a bad thing, but isn't always good either. I wish the ending would have been everything I wanted it to be, but it wasn't. It went off in a different direction, and that was good. Life should be full of the unexpected, and the ending here worked well. It's just not what I would have wanted, and I am sure the readers will all agree. But happily ever afters are rarely in the cards, and sometimes bittersweet is the most you can ask for.

This is definitely a young adult read. I would recommend 18+ for adult content and subject matter. I highly recommend it. Try it. Now. Go. Then come back here and tell me how much you loved it too.

                             Breaking Twig is available on Amazon for just $2.99.
                                              Pick up your copy today!